Nathalie Katsonis wins Ammodo Science Award 2025

For her pioneering research on molecular systems, Prof. Nathalie Katsonis of the Faculty of Science and Engineering (UG) will receive the Ammodo Science Award for fundamental research 2025. Inspired by biological systems, Katsonis develops materials that can bend, react and communicate with their environment. These materials can be used in soft robotics, drug delivery, or for smart coatings in green buildings.

Katsonis will receive a cash prize of EUR 350,000. She can use that money in the coming years to explore new avenues in fundamental research. The award ceremony will take place on Wednesday  May 7 at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Molecular machines

Katsonis opened a whole new field of research with her work on so-called ‘molecular machines’. By getting these minuscule molecules to work together and in a coordinated way, she managed to create so-called smart materials that respond and even adapt to changes in their environment. They can change colour like chameleons, pulse like heart tissue, coil like plant tendrils, stiffen like muscles and even explode like seed pods. Her breakthrough represents a fundamentally new approach in materials science, where the material adapts to its environment and becomes the device itself. Like the leaf of a tree is also a solar cell at the same time.

Looking beyond boundaries

Katsonis combines insights from supramolecular chemistry, nanotechnology and the natural sciences. The jury therefore praises her for her ability to look beyond the boundaries of different scientific fields. Currently, Katsonis is working on an ambitious new goal: understanding how life on Earth originated. In doing so, she will focus on RNA, a molecule that is also a molecular machine, and was crucial for the emergence of the first living cells. By understanding how RNA works in simple models of the first cells, she hopes to contribute to practical applications such alternative delivery systems for drugs and vaccines.

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